Bill Sniffin: Looking Ahead In 2024 — National Election Will Be Huge For Wyoming

Bill Sniffin writes, “The 2016 win by Donald Trump, who was a true business person, stimulated fossil fuel development so that the USA became an exporter of energy. That was truly amazing.”

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Bill Sniffin

January 06, 20245 min read

Bill Sniffin lots of snow 1 16 23
(Cowboy State Daily Staff)

Biggest event for Wyoming will happen Nov. 5 when hopefully a new president will be elected.

Yes, elections matter.

The disastrous presidency of Joe Biden has had continual negative effects on Wyoming’s fossil fuel economy for the past three years, and if he or one of his similar types gets in, we will continue to be in an economic downturn in the Cowboy State.

Perhaps the biggest positive presidential election in recent history for Wyoming was the George Bush-Dick Cheney election in 2000. That signaled a huge resurgence in fossil fuels and caused possibly the biggest energy boom in the state’s history.

Had Democrat Al Gore won that election, things would have been entirely different here in a negative way.

Another example was the upset win in 2016 of Donald Trump. As a true business person, he stimulated fossil fuel development so that the USA became an exporter of energy. That was truly amazing.

Just the opposite happened in 2020 when anti-fossil fuel Biden was elected. He has throttled the state’s energy industry, which dampens job growth in the Cowboy State. Fortunately, both wind and solar continue to grow.

What makes the Biden policies so mindless is that China and India are building more coal-fired power plants every day. Do Biden and his cronies not realize that we all share the same sky? The current administration is sinking our economy to clean up a sky that is being polluted to record levels by our competing countries.

However, we live in a country where most of our younger generations have been indoctrinated on the theories of global warming to where this is probably not able to stop.

Biden policies will have a big effect on Wyoming’s southwest corner as his BLM attempts to lock up over 3 million acres of Red Desert country. Stay tuned on this big issue.

Here In Wyoming

I reached out to some of our excellent reporters at Cowboy State Daily for their predictions for 2024. Here is what some of them said:

Clair McFarland, who covers law enforcement and court cases: “I predict that Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens will rule this year that abortion is health care under the Wyoming Constitution. The state will appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court, but what will happen then I cannot predict.”

Mark Heinz who covers outdoors: “First, Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program will continue to be a hot story – with people on both sides of the topic expressing strong opinions as the wolves continue to expand their range.

“Second, given the devastating winterkill last winter, folks in Wyoming will be paying extra keen attention to our big game herds this winter, and praying that the same thing doesn’t happen again.”

Politically Speaking

Politics reporter Leo Wolfson: “Due to the nature of my job, I try not to make too many predictions, but here goes it.

“The 2024 legislative session will be highly combative and marked by a historically low number of bills passed into the law due to the 2/3 requirement to get any legislation passed and the division within the Legislature.

“The 2024 election cycle will be one of the most brutal and divisive campaign seasons in Wyoming. It will also feature a record amount of money spent for state legislative races. The Wyoming Caucus and Wyoming Freedom Caucus will be going head-to-head, and many candidates will likely feel obligated to swear loyalty to one of the two camps.

“I will not speculate on the final result of that battle, but I will say this is a moment of opportunity for the Freedom Caucus. If it fails to continue the momentum it’s gained in recent years, I'm not sure it will ever take the majority in the House anytime in the near future.”

Deadly Asteroid

Reporter Andrew Rossi sent me an item about an asteroid that might strike the world this fall. If that happens, nothing ese will matter. Here is part of what that news report said:

“Several news outlets have reported that the Earth may be hit by a ‘lost’ asteroid this year. According to the reports, if asteroid 2007 FT3 were to hit Earth, it would do so with the equivalent energy of 2.6 billion tons of TNT. NASA has lost track it, and it has a chance of hitting the planet on Oct. 5, 2024. So, given that that all sounds (to use a technical term) ‘not great,’ what is really going on?

“Though that may sound a tad alarming, there really isn't anything to worry about. One potential point of impact, or where the asteroid was supposed to be closest to Earth, took place in 2019. As you might have noticed, it didn't.”

Happy New Year

Despite wandering asteroids, strange political events and winter-wary wildlife, Wyoming will survive 2024, I predict.

Our people, despite different opinions, are the best in the world. Happy New Year everyone!

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Bill Sniffin

Wyoming Life Columnist

Columnist, author, and journalist Bill Sniffin writes about Wyoming life on Cowboy State Daily -- the state's most-read news publication.